Braised Beef and Onions

Why?
I bought a nice, little chuck roast on sale, brought it home and had no idea what to do with it. I had some onions in the house so I googled “beef chuck roast onions”. My big constraint was I had only ½ bottle of wine in the house and didn’t feel like running out for more. That 375ml of red was for drinkin’, not for cookin’! Well, I hit the jack pot with this gem of a recipe (to which I of course added a few of my own ideas).

What?
It's really just four main ingredients, beef, onions, garlic, and allspice. The allspice kind of threw me at first, but I thought what the heck. After hours in a hot oven, the beef comes out just falling apart and covered in silky, sweet, roasted onions. For my second go-around with this recipe I added a few potatoes and some carrots to the pan about an hour before it was done making it a one-pot meal.
You’ll notice the picture of the Ommegang ale; it doesn’t go in the beef, it goes in the cook (though it would be tasty either way.)

How Much?
I bought the beef and vegetables at Giant, but picked up allspice at Yes! Organic; they’re a great source for fresh spices in bulk. I bought about 3oz of allspice for $2.20 but the recipe only uses about ¼-oz.

Boneless Chuck Roast – 10.74
Onions - $3.10
Garlic - $1.00
Allspice - $0.25
Parley - $1.99
Total - $17.08


The Recipe:

Braised Beef and Onions
Makes 4 servings
active time: 15 min
total time: 3 hrs

Ingredients
1 (2-2 ½ lb) well-marbled boneless beef chuck pot roast
2 teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon pepper
3 very large onions, sliced ¼ inch thick (6-8 cups)
3-4 large garlic cloves, slivered
2 bay leaves (optional)
4 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preparation
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F.
1) Stir together allspice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and set aside. (Optional substitute 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 teaspoons chili powder for the allspice.)

2) Pat meat dry. Using a small paring knife slice deep cuts into the meat and stuff slivers of garlic into the cuts working your way around both sides of the meat until it is evenly studded with garlic. (Any leftover garlic can be added to the onions later.) Rub the allspice mixture all over meat.

3) Spread half the onions in a 13- by 9-inch roasting pan and arrange meat on top. Spread remaining onions over meat (and if using, add bay leaves and any remaining garlic). Tightly cover pan with a double layer of foil and roast for 1 hour.

4) After an hour, turn the meat over and spread some of the onions from the pan over the roast. Recover the pan tightly with foil and cook until meat is very tender, about an additional 1 1/2 hours. (Optional: remove the foil for the last 1/2 hour to allow pan juices to reduce a little and onions to caramelize.)

5) Skim fat from pan juices. Slice meat across the grain and sprinkle with parsley. Serve with onions and pan juices.